Portland, Columbia gorge and Mt St Hellens

I arrived in Portland at around 10ish by plane from San Jose and caught the next train to the centre of "The city of bridges" .  Riding the train gave me a brief but very engaging insight to the character of this really cool and modern city, cafes and independent coffee shops (yes that's right, not starbucks!!) line the streets along with art galleries, antique shops and book stores.

There is a huge mix of people from all over Oregon and the west coast here, attracted by Portlands brilliant economic opportunities but by also the booming tourism industry that generates a significant amount of the activity in this beautiful city.

One of the most famous attractions of Portland is the huge number of microbreweries (which I sadly cannot make use of), it is also very famous for its weekend markets and cool "hipster", "hippy" atmosphere.

Once I had made my way to the hostel I dumped my stuff and went on to explore the city.  I went to Powells bookstore, the biggest and most successful privately owned bookstore in the US where I bought "A clash of kings" by George Martin! 

Following on from that I basically wandered the markets and art galleries till it got dark.

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Today (11/05/2014) was an incredibly eventful day I have to say.  This morning Taylor (a good friend I had met in New Zealand who so happens to live in Portland) picked me up and we drove to Mt St Hellens along the highways that elegantly cut through the Oregon and Washington pine forests.

We got to Mt St Hellens at around 10ish and went to the visitor centre before going on a small hike around the Hummocks.  Unfortunately the Moutain was shrouded in cloud which was a bit disappointing. 

I did however see some relics of the 1980 eruption as twisted and blackened stumps covered the somewhat barren landscape.  Life is still finding its way back here though, the once ash covered plains beside the coneless volcano have now seen an explosion of life.  Pioneer species scatter the plains below and small to medium size trees are scattered along with wild plants.  There is a lot of bird life in the park and the elk have also returned which is encouraging as they can help spread seeds in their droppings.

We then grabbed lunch before driving to fort Vancouver.  We drove past it but were curious as to what it was because Taylor had never been there himself.  Fort Vancouver was once an important fort for the Hudsons Bay Company in the British Portland territory.  Archaeologists and historians have managed to build an accurate copy of fort Vancouver. 

The Hudsons bay company were once the most successful company in the world and was a major trader in the Americas.  Their main business was with the furs that north america had to offer, particularly beaver pelts that were used to make top hats in Europe.

The northwest of the USA and western Canada was a hotspot for high quality fur and these pelts and furs were sent all over the British empire and the rest of the world.

After the USA expanded westwards and American settlers claimed rights to the lands of Portland the Oregon treaty set the US–Canadian border at the 49th parallel north and Fort Vancouver found itself within American territory. Although the treaty ensured that the Hudson's Bay Company could continue to operate and had free access to navigate the Columbia, company operations were effectively stifled by the treaty and became unprofitable and were soon closed down.

After that Taylor took me to the Columbia river gorge for the views which were as expected, amazing.

We then went to Voodoo donuts where we bought some heart stoppingly good donuts (theyre a portland speciality so I couldnt refuse) 

Tomorrow I'm heading up to Seattle early in the morning and will around at around 12ish.